Shooting a stark reminder of dangers police face daily

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends," John 15:13

The sadness and horror felt by the Jackson Police Department from the shooting death of Detective Eric Smith is unimaginable, certainly to those outside law enforcement, where the promise to protect and serve is always carried out beneath the specter of not returning home from a shift or even a call.

Smith was gunned down Thursday by homicide suspect Jeremy Powell, himself killed, inside JPD headquarters, the place where for 18 years Smith said "hello" and "goodbye" to his fellow officers each day, showed them pictures of his two sons and talked about the ups and downs of his favorite football team, the New Orleans Saints.

The Pearl Police Department had to endure such tragedy almost a year ago with the slaying of Investigator Mike Walter as he served a search warrant at an apartment complex.

The death of Smith, as with Walter, is about as sharp and sobering of a reminder not only of the everyday dangers of police work but also the sacrifice officers stand ready to make, the willingness to put themselves in the path of a bullet, knife or bomb to protect complete strangers as if they were their own families.

Law enforcement often is said to be one big family, and families, be they through blood or profession, often are brought together by tragedy and sometimes see each other more readily at funerals than celebrations. But the familial bond also extends from police to the public they protect.

They investigate murders, rapes and robberies of people we love and care for. They come to our homes when breaking glass or a home-security alarm wakes us in the wee hours of the morning. They look for our stolen cars, missing money, snatched purses. Crime's breach of our personal sanctity equals the piercing of the public trust officers vow to uphold. Our problems become theirs, and each side works through the difficulty together.

Smith was trying to find answers for the family and friends of a stabbing victim when he was killed while questioning Powell. Walter was serving a warrant related to the alleged molestation of a child. Both officers were trying to find answers for families who may have been questioning whether any could be found. Those officers essentially became members of those victims' families by seeking justice.

A police officer's badge gives a person duties, responsibilities and privileges that many people can't imagine. Many of us don't like it when law enforcement pays us a visit: "I wasn't going that fast, officer." "That light was yellow." "Why don't you look for the real criminals?"

They are looking for the real criminals. But they also want us not to speed or run red lights to ensure our safety and that of other motorists. They want us to keep our noise down so our neighbors can get some sleep. They want to help us feel safe in an increasingly unsafe world.

Smith's death, like Walter's, also should remind us that police officers aren't interchangeable dispensers of arrest warrants, speeding tickets, littering citations or verbal warnings. They are someone's spouse, parent, sibling, child, friend and neighbor. They're in front of us in the grocery store checkout line. They sing hymns with us in church. They watch their kids, and ours, play baseball. They say "hello" to us as we pass them on the street.

They care for us and want to protect us, because we are their families, their friends, their neighbors. And, like the rest of us, they know there is no promise of tomorrow.

The people of Jackson have lost a member of the family. May God bless Eric Smith and the families he lived with and served.